In the two years since Chase died, Little has tried to remember what she calls the "21 joyful years I had with my son."

But that chore becomes more difficult every April, because in addition to thinking about all the birthday parties, she has to confront that day when her son refused to leave home with the rest of the family.

She wonders if she should have insisted that he go to the basement like the family had two previous times that day. And Adams' final words to her play over and over in her head.

"He was sitting in my recliner," Little said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

She paused to wipe tears from her face. "His last words to me were, 'I love you and I'll see you when you get back home.'?"

The Littles returned to a field of debris, mostly items from neighbors' homes on old Alabama 24 near Oh!Bryan's Steak House.

Although two years have passed, it's still painful for Adams' stepfather, Ronald "Runt" Little, to recall what he saw.

"We had been through a lot together, but he was like my son and I loved him," he said. "We still have good days and bad days."

The day before the weather arrived, Tina Little had been watching news reports of storm damage in Arkansas. She told her husband she wanted to go help "those poor people." But in less than 24 hours, the storm system was approaching Lawrence County.

At 4 a.m. April 27, Little's family left home to seek shelter. She cooked breakfast when family members returned, but by 10 a.m. Lawrence County was under another tornado warning.

Again, the family headed for shelter.

At about 3 p.m., Little's mother-in-law called and frantically told them the tornado was headed for Mount Hope.

Enlarge

{{internalImg.image_caption + " "}}

This time, Chase decided to stay home with his red-nose pit bull, Lala. The 17-year-old dog was born April 27, 1994, and died in the storm with her owner.

Chase's brother, Justin Adams, who lived next door, had returned home from work. He survived the storm, but barely. His leg had to be amputated above the knee.

After the skies gave way to daylight, Little and her husband decided to go home. They reached Joel Dutton's service station, where Lawrence County 460 and 39 intersect.

Downed power lines and debris stopped them from going farther. Sensing that something was wrong, Little screamed. She borrowed a man's four-wheeler, but could only go so far "because the water seemed knee-high."

She saw her brother-in-law, Nathaniel Little, coming from the field behind Oh!Bryan's. "Please tell me you found my boys," she said.

"Nothing is left," he told her.

Little felt hopeless as she stood in the middle of Lawrence County 39. She learned that her oldest son had been taken to the hospital. A man who didn't realize she was a mother told her they were in the field looking for bodies.

Her husband finally emerged from the field.

"He told me they had found Chase," Little said. "Someone had covered him with a blanket so we wouldn't find him."

His dog was near him.

"I just prayed to God," she said. "I had to decide between staying with the son that was gone or going to the hospital. Nobody should have these choices."

An emergency worker agreed to stay with her son's body and she went to the hospital. She wasn't prepared for what she had to see.

Justin Adams had two broken legs. His pelvis and hips were shattered and his bladder ruptured.

"He had so many tubes going in and out of him," Little said. "I told the doctors to please fight to save him because he's the only one I got."

After he was transferred to Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield and able to talk, the first thing Justin said to his mother was "Chase."

She didn't want to tell him his brother was dead.

"I told him he was with my husband looking for things," she said.

Enlarge

{{internalImg.image_caption + " "}}

The next day, Justin reached out a hand for his mother. She moved closer.

"He told me he already knew because God had come to him in a dream and told him," the mother said.

The only thing the Littles found was a blanket a friend had made for Chase's birthday. They wrapped the dog in it before burying her.

The family decided not to rebuild on Lawrence County 39.

"I don't know if I would have been able to walk out on the porch every day," Little said.

They moved to Lawrence County 50, about three miles west of the old home place.

Little said she's still trying to build "a new new," but at times the pain is unbearable. Life moves on for so many people, she said, but she still wakes up a 2 a.m. thinking about the "little boy who made jokes of everything."

Some days are better than others. But not a day passes that she doesn't think about something her grandmother used to say.

"She always told me, 'Children walk on your feet when they are young and your heart when they get older,'" Little said.

Tears in her eyes, she looked up, smiled and said: "I'd kill for Chase to walk on my heart just one more time."